Mackman Research's 2012 new offices

The entire Mackman team are gearing up for the big office move at the end of the year. Since acquiring the new building in early 2011, work has been ongoing to give it a bit of an update. Carpets have been ripped up, original wooden floorboards have been sanded and restored, walls have been steamed, stripped and painted and new furniture has been ordered! Mackman client, Global Stone, has provided a beautiful stone floor for the new kitchen.

The design and technical teams are already located at the new office on Meadow Lane, Sudbury, and are looking forward to having the research team and management join them in the new year. Paul Mackman, Business Development Director, says ‘We’re all looking forward to being under one roof again. The company has continued to grow this year, which is why this is the best time to move into a bigger office.’

Once everyone’s settled in, watch out for an exclusive video tour around our new home!

Anson

Mackman Research has successfully delivered the results of a client satisfaction survey on behalf of Cambridgeshire food packaging experts, Anson. In keeping with its company mission to provide excellent customer service, Anson was keen to discover how well they are doing in meeting customer expectations. The study was carried out to help Anson improve the overall quality of customer service and to identify potential future developments for the business.

The expert team at Mackman Research undertook the important project using telephone interviews, while also providing an online version of the survey for participants who preferred this convenient way of completing the questionnaire.

Libby Coe, Business Manager at Anson, was really pleased with the findings and said, ‘We were very pleased with the results that our customer survey produced. Mackman steered us through the experience effortlessly and professionally, offering expert advice at every opportunity. We will definitely be carrying out annual customer surveys moving forward and look forward to working with Mackman again.’

Gemma Mackman, Research Director for Mackman Research, says ‘We are seeing more clients putting customer service at the top of their agendas because they see excellent customer satisfaction as part of their strategy for long term growth. We help clients to design a questionnaire which meets all their objectives and delivers meaningful results which they can then use to make informed decisions and act to drive the company forward.

For more information on Anson, follow this link to visit their website. To find out what Mackman Research could do for your business, get in touch here or give us a call on 01787 388038

Mackman Group new office, Sudbury, Suffolk

With the Mackman team continually growing as demand for business increases, the company is moving into a bigger office. The company has acquired a new building in Sudbury, just down the road from the current premises.

The design and technical departments have moved into the new building already, with the marketing, research and publicity teams moving down later in the year. Being a bunch of creatives, everyone has plenty of ideas as to how the new space can be decorated!

This exciting news marks an important step forward for the Group as its steady and significant growth has enabled this move. The new building has plenty of office space, multiple meeting rooms, on site parking and a rose-filled outside space. Watch this space for news of a ‘House Warming’ party in the New Year!

Mackman Research, based in Station Rd, Sudbury, interviewed key international wholesale buyers on behalf of Twinings. The survey measured overall satisfaction levels of customers and their experience of dealing with Twinings’ international customer services. Questions were based around customer satisfaction and perceptions of Twinings’ international customer services. As well as offering a prize incentive, Twinings donated money to Save the Children for each completed questionnaire.

Twinings’ international customer services manager, Sharlene Moffitt, praised the work of Mackman Research and said, ‘Mackman has worked professionally at all times, enabling clear presentation of the results to identify key trends and areas for growth and improvement of the Customer Services team now and in the future.’ She added the work had ‘proved to be an invaluable tool for helping Twinings shape the future of the Customer Services we deliver.’

Starting life as a small, family firm, Mackman Research is recognised nationally as a research leader, specialising in creating and undertaking customer satisfaction surveys for ‘top end’ clients. Experts at the firm devised the methodology, designed the questionnaire, built a secure web portal to collect the data, analysed the information and provided a findings report. Twinings will use the findings to inform their decisions and company practise.

Gemma Mackman, Research Director of Mackman Research, part of Mackman Group, says, ‘We are really proud to include Twinings in our list of clients and enjoy working with Sharlene and her team.’

Gemma added, ‘Customer service is high on people’s agendas because it is a key way to differentiate yourselves from your competitors. Leading firms are using surveys like this as part of their growth strategy and they want to outsource to a specialist.’

Mackman Group video still

This month, the Mackman team had the opportunity to feel like films stars, for one afternoon only! Offshoot Films offered to make a short advert for the Group, and everyone jumped at the chance to get involved.

The Mackman team were filmed discussing approaches to design, marketing, pr and research and were each asked what they loved about their role at Mackman. It was a lovely afternoon on the beautiful Sudbury water meadows (if not a little windy at times!).

Please click here to see the finished result!

Communications Manager, Melanie Willis, gave the following testimonial, “We commissioned Mackman Research to conduct a mystery telephone shop of our 24 hour network control centre. Mackman carried out the ‘mystery shop’ very effectively. They made every effort to understand the needs and scope of the project and did exactly what they said they were going to do. When the methodology had to change (due to unforeseen severe weather conditions) they were quick to respond. The final report presented the results in a clear and objective way and was produced very quickly. I would recommend using Mackman Research for mystery shopping projects; they did an excellent job for us.”

For more information on our mystery shopping services and to discuss how mystery shopping can benefit your organisation, contact Mackman Research on 01787 388 038.

Essex Countrywide Business Awards 2011

The Mackman Group attended the finalists ceremony of the Essex Countywide Awards in Southend last Friday. The aim of the awards is to encourage the growth of companies in the area and reward individual business success as part of a prosperous and sustained local economy. Mackman was nominated as finalists in the Business-2-Business category on the strength of our performance over the last year. Prizes were presented by news presenter Natasha Kaplinsky.

Todd Landman and Paul Mackman at the University of Essex

Mackman is going back to its roots with the opening of a new office in Colchester next month. Reflecting the company’s growth in Essex as well as in Suffolk, our new office is situated at the University of Essex in Wivenhoe. The Mackman Group is a partner of the University and we work closely with the Institute of Democracy and Conflict Resolution (IDCR) at the university. It’s great to be neighbours with our university clients and to be closer to our other clients based in Colchester and the surrounding area. For Paul and Gemma too, the expansion into a second office in Colchester is something of a homecoming: Mackman was established in the Mackmans’ home in the centre of Colchester in 2003.

Our Essex address is as follows, with new phone number too:

Mackman Group

IDCR

University of Essex

Wivenhoe Park

Colchester

Essex

CO4 3SQ

01206 625 222

Mackman researchers, Abi and Gemma, are delighted with the award

The annual Government Business Awards, which encourage and reward effective business practises in the public sector across the country, yesterday presented Mackman Research clients, Chelmsford Borough Council, with the top prize for Market Research. The award was won in recognition of the Council’s Parks Audit which was carried out by Mackman Research in 2009. The winners were announced at Twickenham Stadium and presented by Bill Turnbull (BBC News).

In particular the research sought to discover why low income groups within the Borough are low users of public parks and gardens. Mackman devised the methodology, designed the questionnaire, collected the data, analysed the information and prepared and delivered the findings report. Our staff were out and about in Chelmsford not only in the parks, but directly targeting respondents at the Job Centre, the Benefits Office and via door-to-door interviews. The project was the first of its kind within the UK.

Officers from the Parks and Heritage Services, said: “The Mackman Group team had a professional, collaborative, ‘can do’ approach to the project and we were impressed with their flexibility and expertise. The final report was clear and in depth and a great piece of research.”

Gemma said: “The project was challenging but enjoyable and the fact that our research will assist the Council in encouraging more of Chelmsford’s residents to enjoy the wonderful parks that they have on their doorsteps made the project extremely worthwhile.”

Mackman Research secret shoppers

Women’s glossies, weekend supplements, internet chat and social networks are currently a-buzz about the (not so) Secret Shopper, Mary Portas, and her exploits amongst some of Britain’s best known high-street retail outlets. Thousands of Channel 4 viewers have been following the retail guru and joining her campaign to drastically change the average shopping trip by significantly improving levels of customer service.

But mystery shopping is nothing new. Hundreds of mystery shopping projects are conducted on the phone or face-to-face by specialist research teams across a range of businesses every day. At Mackman Research, our mystery shoppers can make contact with your company and its various sections in order to assess your levels of service, customer care and staff capabilities. As a method of gathering competitor information, mystery shopping can also be used to benchmark your service levels against those of your competitors.

Recent mystery shopping work conducted by Mackman Research includes testing the proof-of-age ID request at a group of Suffolk general stores (a face-to-face project) and work for a global engineering company making secret calls to assess four elements of customer service and client satisfaction. Mackman Research always produces a full mystery shopper summary report at the end of the project which is bespoke and tailored to the needs of each commissioning client.

For more information or to discuss how mystery shopping may benefit your organisation, call Mackman Research on 01787 388038 or to make an online research enquiry click here.